As we approach 2022, we all know that privacy is becoming increasingly vital and digital marketing with iOS-15.4 underlines this. Since IOS 14, Apple has made privacy a fundamental differentiator in their operating system, and they are now taking it a step further. What impact does this have on your digital marketing?
With the release of Apple’s iOS 14 earlier this year, the ability to track and assess the efficacy of your online advertising took a huge hit. This was the first major tidal wave, and it took many people off guard. Facebook’s attribution and return on investment (ROI) were drastically wrong all of a sudden.
Digital marketing with iOS-15.4
With the release of iOS 15, we’re set to get hit by a second wave.
Whether you’re a Facebook advertiser, an email marketer, or someone who uses marketing attribution to analyse and measure campaign data to better your website, social advertising, or online sales…
The latest iOS 15 upgrade from Apple will have an effect on you.
Apple is now advising iPhone owners to block their IP address in order to avoid being tracked.
With nearly half of smartphone users using Apple devices, this will have a significant influence on your marketing. The more Apple devices your consumers use, the greater the influence on your ability to accurately monitor data, campaign results, and ROI.
It’s spreading from Facebook Ads to email marketing with iOS 15. The open and click-through rates on your emails will become erroneous. Your ability to track sales generated by email campaigns will also be skewed.
But, hey, the majority of us don’t want to be monitored in the first place, and that’s perfectly fine. Privacy is a good thing.
I’m here to tell you that with the appropriate tools and technique, you can get around this and keep gaining new clients and growing your business.
What Has Changed in iOS 15?
The most recent iOS upgrade will have an impact on attribution and your ability to track marketing campaign results. rethinking how you collect data on your customers and how you use that data across your various channels
So, what are the three most significant changes that the iOS 15 update brings?
Users of iOS 15 can now restrict their IP address.
When using devices with iOS 15, the ability to turn off open pixel tracking.
The ability to hide your email, preventing marketers from seeing clicked emails.
These changes will have an impact on how you and your clients track your internet marketing and set targets.
If any of your customers are using iOS 15 and have privacy turned on, you won’t be able to see typical attribution analytics like email openings or conversion rates. As a result, the iOS 15 update will have an impact on the main KPIs you use to track data and deliver tailored adverts.
This necessitates a shift in marketing tactics, such as defining basic click rates and filtering relational data between clicks. You’ll be ready to profit from iOS 15 if you use past KPI data you’ve saved about your clients and combine it with new strategies.
Before you can start scaling your business and attaining a high ROI successfully while marketing in the age of iOS 15, you must first understand the effects of this update on attribution efforts across different channels.
Digital marketing with iOS-15.4 – Impact on Social Advertising (Facebook Ads)
Any social advertising done on an Apple smartphone running iOS 15 will be affected. For example, Facebook has made significant strides in recent years to improve its attribution efforts, establishing itself as one of the best attribution providers in the industry.
Marketers were able to track data across different devices, publishers, and marketing advertising thanks to Facebook.
Multi-channel attribution on Facebook would track marketing activities across several platforms, measuring touch points from the first click to the final click. If a sale isn’t made right away, the first-click and last-click are usually done on multiple platforms.
If your customers have privacy enabled, you won’t be able to track these attributions using Facebook’s built-in capabilities with iOS 15, making multi-channel attribution difficult without the right tools.
With iOS 15, the data you’re getting based on previous KPI measurements is no longer applicable, and you won’t be able to develop tailored ads based on it. iOS 15 will have an influence on other common social advertising platforms in addition to Facebook.
The latest Apple upgrade has also had an impact on traditional techniques of social advertising, such as email marketing. You can no longer track email click metrics when consumers using an iOS 15 compatible device enable privacy. Because these critical attribution tools are no longer available, marketers must rely on new KPIs to generate tailored and practical social advertising.
New Methods of Attribution
Marketing has always been centred on attribution. With the iOS 15 release, it has now become regressive due to the loss of so much attribution data. Things with no attribution include billboards, newspapers, and radio.
Because click or view information is one of the most influential metrics you can collect on your client, you will see adverts that direct you to a dedicated website address to track this data. You may utilise this information to your advantage if you kept careful records of your KPI data prior to the upgrade.
Even in the age of iOS 15, you may produce useful and tailored ads by combining the data you have from your present analytical efforts with the open information you have gathered about your clients.
Future categorization should be based on other engagement measures such as clicks and forwards. Get as imaginative as possible in any approach that allows you to track a subscriber’s increased involvement. You’ll be in a better position to thrive in the future and throughout the Christmas season if you create rules that segment customers based on this information.
The Must-Have Apps for Mitigating the Effects of iOS 15
Due to the importance of attribution metrics for social marketing and the upgrades to iOS 15, it may be advisable to use premium products to optimise your marketing efforts. To make the most of attribution with iOS 15, you can utilise other tools like CAPI to simply integrate your online store with the Facebook conversions API. Other free programmes, such as Google Analytics, are essential to your website’s success.
Facebook was relied on the pixel code, which tracks and attributes everyone who visits your website. CAPI uses server tagging instead of cookies to measure attributions like conversions, which Facebook would normally do with cookies.
However, if someone comes using iOS 15 and disables privacy, cookies will not be applied. If someone fills out a form on your website, you may transmit that information back to Facebook via the server and API, allowing CAPI to provide you with current attribution metrics tied to your marketing activities. CAPI is one of the most straightforward solutions, especially with iOS 15, and everyone who uses characteristics should install it.
Google Analytics is a free tool that should be installed on every website. You can use Urchin Traffic Monitor or UTM data with Google Analytics. UTM monitoring provides a clearer picture of your online market performance, while Google Analytics makes it simple to add short parameters to the end of a URL, allowing you to measure traffic and conversions on your website even when clients are using an iOS 15 device. This tool helps you to see which campaigns and advertisements are leading your clients to click.
By using the current version of Google Analytics and ensuring that UTM parameters are used in all of your advertising efforts, you can then leverage this information for new attributes, which you can use to generate targeted marketing campaigns.
In addition to free tools, there are a number of premium tools that might improve your attribution efforts. Google Manager 360 is a good choice for your company if you’re prepared to pay in monthly tools to get the most out of your marketing efforts. The equipment is expensive, but it is quite thorough.
Google Manager 360 is a centralised advertising programme that lets you track metrics such as TV, YouTube, and other channels. Google Manager 360 is similar to UTM in that it primarily provides capabilities for Google goods. This software can be used for a variety of purposes.
Elevar is another excellent option for anyone with a Shopify store. Elevar can set up CAPI for you and manage all of your attribution channels.
You can even have the Elevar team provide you with this information without having to do any work. Elevar makes it simple to set up CAPI and track events, but cutting-edge solutions can help you get even more out of your marketing efforts. For example, Hyros software is expensive per month but provides a wealth of capabilities for tracking and utilising attribution.
Hyros software stores all of the data on clients who visit you online. Based on IP addresses and other criteria, Hyros groups attribution parameters together. When you’re signed into Facebook and checking at your campaign performance at Facebook’s back end, you’ll see columns from Hyros because the programme includes a chrome extension that plugs in. This will indicate how things are progressing and the outcomes of all of the different types of attribution.
Facebook used to track users for 28 days before the iOS 15 modifications. With click-thru attribution and view-thru attribution, Facebook now only uses a seven-day click and a one-day view for attribution. Hyros will extend their investigation beyond what Facebook has done with date faces.
Click-through attribution occurs when you see an advertisement and make a purchase. If you see an ad but don’t click on it, proceed to Google search and make the purchase, that’s a view-through conversion.
View-thru changes are typically used for retargeting advertising that use cookies, a functionality that is no longer available in iOS 15 if users do not allow tracking. With the ability to obtain attribution data, conversions become much more complicated. Hyros, an iOS-15 tool, can help you manage all of the features your marketing campaign need to gather valuable customer data.
Final Thoughts on Digital Marketing with iOS-15
Tracking and measuring the success of your digital marketing activities will become increasingly challenging. This move will affect nearly every organisation; it’s an awful fact that we all have to deal with.
Going on the offensive and taking action is the greatest strategy. We have the right tools and strategies in place to help us make the move to iOS-15.
However, you’ll need a strategy that aligns with your objectives. In order to properly measure the efficacy of your social advertising and email marketing initiatives, you’ll also need to update your marketing attribution model.
If you need support and want to find out more about our digital marketing services – contact us for a free consultation wit a member of our team.